BJP demands renaming Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad to Ganapathivattom
Kozhikode (Kerala) (PTI): The BJP said on Thursday that the name of Sulthan Bathery town, associated with Tipu Sultan in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, should be changed, as the place was originally known as Ganapathivattom before the Mysore ruler's invasion of the Malabar region of Kerala two centuries ago.
The issue was raised by the BJP state president, K Surendran, who is contesting against the sitting MP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as well as CPI leader and ruling LDF candidate Annie Raja in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
"Ganapathivattom is the true name of Sulthan Bathery. Its name change is necessary," Surendran told reporters in Thamarassery near here.
Raking up the issue of Tipu Sultan's Malabar invasion during his election campaign, the BJP leader alleged that the Congress and LDF prefer to refer to it as Sulthan Bathery.
"Why should such a place in Kerala be named after an aggressor?" he asked.
"In reality, the place is Ganapathivattom. How many years ago did the Sultan's invasion occur? Who is Sultan? What is the significance of Tipu Sultan regarding Wayanad and its people?
"That place was known as Ganapathivattom. People are aware of this. Congress and the LDF are allied with Tipu Sultan, who converted lakhs of people in Kerala, especially in Wayanad and Malabar," Surendran alleged.
He also claimed that the issue was first raised by late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan in 1984.
According to Kerala Tourism, Sulthan Bathery was earlier known as Ganapathivattom.
"The place owes its new name to the erstwhile ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, who during his invasion of the Malabar region dumped his ammunition and parked his artillery battering in an old Jain temple here.
"The place was hence known as Sulthan Bathery which is a corrupted form of Sultan’s battery. Tipu Sultan also built a fort here, which is in ruins now and a police station stands on the mounds of the fort now," a Kerala Tourism website said.
The Congress mocked Surendran for raising the controversy of changing the name of Sultan Bathery.
Congress leader and MLA T Siddique said that Surendran can say anything.
"He is not going to win; it is just an attempt to grab public attention. It is not going to happen, and there is no value attached to his statement," he told a news channel.
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Delhi court sentences CBI joint director to 3 months' imprisonment in IRS officer assault case
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced two CBI officers to three months' imprisonment for assaulting and trespassing into the residence of an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer during a raid over two decades ago.
Judicial Magistrate Shashank Nandan Bhatt was hearing the arguments on the sentence against the convicted retired police officer V K Pandey and Ramneesh, who was serving as a superintendent of police when the raid was conducted in 2000.
Ramneesh is at present a joint director at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court also fined Rs 50,000 each to both the accused.
Both were accused under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief) and 448 (criminal trespass) in a complaint filed by IRS officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal.
The case pertained to an incident on October 19, 2000, when a CBI team carried out a search and arrest operation at Aggarwal's residence in Paschim Vihar.
Aggarwal alleged that the officials forcibly entered his house in the early hours, assaulted him and violated legal procedures during the arrest.
#WATCH | Delhi | Former IRS officer assault case. | Tis Hazari Court sentenced CBI joint director Ramneesh and Retired ACP Vivek Pandey to 3 months sentence in an assault case filed by former IRS officer Ashok Agarwal. The court has granted them bail to challenge the judgment.… https://t.co/RwAxjMrWDK pic.twitter.com/2FlkG4rDs0
— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2026
